Overly Dependent on Medications

Posted by Anthony Lee Jan 2, 2009

As I've preached many times in my previous blogs, living a healthy life comes from making the right choices. In many cases, preventive medicine is the best medicine. Medications are there for situations where disease occurs beyond one's control.

Often, I cannot help but notice how many individuals would take medications in place of preventive measures that are not entirely impossible. For example, some obese people may have not made efforts to change their diet and activity habits, yet they continue to take medications for diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. It makes me wonder. Is dependence on medications getting out of hand?

Having too many medications can involve unnecessary inconveniences and financial consequences. Furthermore, there is the problem of drug interactions. The bigger the medication regimen, the greater the likelihood of two or more drugs influencing each other's effects or producing unwanted side effects. These problems can be especially significant for elderly patients.

So when a list of medications gets long, consider how important each one is. Chances are that you'll find some that could be removed, making the list more manageable.